California Dish: What I Saw (and Cooked) at the American Culinary Revolution - Hardcover

Tower, Jeremiah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0743228448 ISBN 13: 9780743228442

Publisher: Free Press, 2003

Synopsis

Widely recognized as the godfather of modern American cooking and a mentor to such rising celebrity chefs as Mario Batali, Jeremiah Tower is one of the most influential cooks of the last thirty years. Now, the former chef and partner at Chez Panisse and the genius behind Stars San Francisco tells the story of his lifelong love affair with food -- an affair that helped to spark an international culinary revolution. Raised in the United States, Australia, and Great Britain, two-time James Beard Award-winner Jeremiah Tower was a man without a country -- until he immersed himself in the borderless world of great cooking and set out to create the "serious simplicity" that would change our notions of fine dining. Stumbling almost by accident into Berkeley's then-unknown Chez Panisse in 1971, he dazzled the San Francisco Bay Area -- and then the rest of the country -- with his dedication to fresh, local ingredients prepared simply. Eager to fulfill his own dining vision, he embarked on his quest to build the ultimate high-style "democratic" brasserie, San Francisco's Stars, where blue-jeaned rockers mixed with tuxedoed operagoers and political figures from around the world. With the expansion of Tower's empire into Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seattle, he became one of the first and most glamorous of the eighties "super chefs." In this sparkling and candid memoir of his life with food, Tower tells the story of his rise and fall and rise again -- all intimately tied to the state of the culinary arts. More than a brilliant chef, Tower is an engaging storyteller who shares with wit and honesty the real dish on cooking, chefs, celebrities, and what really goes on in the kitchen. He exults in the exotic romance language of menus; the philosophy of brown sauce; the inner workings of a super restaurant; the drugs and sex that fueled the revolution; and culinary tours of Brittany, Morocco, and other glamorous ports. You'll get glimpses of such kitchen greats as the legendary James Beard, Chez Panisse's Alice Waters, renowned critic Craig Claiborne, plus Elizabeth David, Richard Olney, Julia Child, Paul Bocuse, Jean Troisgros, Paul Prudhomme, and Wolfgang Puck -- not to mention luminaries like Rudolph Nureyev, Luciano Pavarotti, and Sophia Loren. Above all, Tower rhapsodizes about food -- the meals choreographed like great ballets, the menus scored like concertos. No other book reveals more about the seeds sown in the seventies, the excesses of the eighties, and the self-congratulations of the nineties. No other chef/restaurateur who was there at the very beginning is better positioned than Jeremiah Tower to tell the story of the American culinary revolution.

About this title

About the Author

Jeremiah Tower is one of the world's foremost authorities on food, wine, and travel. He began his culinary career as chef and co-owner of Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. From 1984 to 1998 he ran several other successful restaurants in San Francisco (Stars, Stars Café, Speedo 690), Hong Kong (The Peak Café), Singapore (Stars), and Seattle (Stars). In 1996 the James Beard Foundation named Tower "Outstanding Chef in America," one of many awards and honors he has received over the years. He is the author of two previous books, Jeremiah Tower's New American Classics, winner of a James Beard Award for the best regional cookbook; and Jeremiah Tower Cooks. Most recently, he hosted the PBS series America's Best Chefs. He currently resides in New York City.

Reviews

Tower opens this memoir with the story of going head to head with French chef Guy Savoy at a sort of junket for the culinary press back in 1983 and how he won over his audience with an audacity born of equal parts pride and inexperience. His fusion of cooking talk with more personal gossip and the inclusion of the revealing aside is sure to captivate foodies. But Tower's pacing meanders, and his gracious facade shows more than a few rough and brittle edges. An abiding bitterness is the only thing revealed in Tower's version of the creation of Chez Panisse and the rivalry with Alice Waters that ensued. Other sections-especially the chapters on his running San Francisco's Stars-likewise avoid topics of obvious interest to make room for name dropping and ax grinding. The occasional insertion of menus or recipes is random. Tower's personality comes through in bits and pieces as he frankly remembers the highs and lows of an important career, but the picture as a whole is less than flattering.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0743228448
• ISBN 13: 9780743228442
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336